Knesset rejects three bills to alter route of separation fence

The Knesset plenum on Wednesday rejected three bills filed by members of the opposition on the route of the West Bank separation fence.


The three bills each suggested alternative routes to the one the fence is currently following. The bill proposed by Meretz MK Ran Cohen, which was rejected by a majority of 53-2 with 4 MKs abstaining, suggesting building the fence along the 1967 Green Line border.

Cohen accused the Sharon government of "security, financial and diplomatic crimes" for deciding to build 740 kilometers of fence, some 400 kilometers longer than the original Green Line. He said the current route of the fence is "anti-security, encourages additional acts of hatred and terrorism." He also accused the government of wasting NIS 4 billion on the fence.

The bill proposed by MK Danny Yatom (Labor) was rejected by 58-9 with 6 abstentions and a third bill by MK Matan Vilnai (Labor) was voted down by a majority of 57-23 with 3 abstentions. The two bills were very similar to Cohen's proposal.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/385520.html

Looks like the fence route will not be significantly changed at this time.